We have to be Adults about This
by politicsandprose00
Summary: AU Olitz but not really. Fair warning, read my author s note in Chapter 1 before you proceed further. Constructive criticism strongly encouraged!


**Author`s Note: I labelled it AU Olitz but it`s really a thinly veiled cover for the actors playing Olivia and Fitz. If this isn`t your thing, it`s fine, move along. Posting fanfic I conjured up during a bored time at work really isn`t going to affect two people who are free to make their own decisions. If I had that power, they would be together already. I`ll decide whether or not to continue this fic based on the feedback I get. Once this fic has a core following, I`ll take it out of the Scandal tag, promise. **

"Cut!'

As the crew cleared from the set Olivia sprang up from behind the couch in the replicated Oval Office.

" Great work as always, Fitz, though you could have sped it up a bit during that last scene." She joked with a smirk as she stretched out the cramps in her calves.

" Hmmm…if your stamina is wavering, take it up with Quinn, not me. Or maybe it's all just a natural part of the aging process, not that I would know." He replied with an impish smile.

At that, she burst into peals of loud laughter. Her lithe frame wholeheartedly thrown into the guffaws with her heart-shaped face indelicately tilted back towards the ceiling. Unable to stop the grin splitting across his face, he joined her in the laughter, secretly delighted to have evoked such a joyful reaction. The two of them stayed in their throes of laughter until Olivia reached across to hug Fitz. On instinct, he protectively turned his body towards hers as she nestled deep into his arms.

"Mmmhmmm, you somehow managed to defy the aging process. I'm surprised you're not black." She jokingly rolled her eyes and tilted her head up towards him only to be met with a dazzling look in his eyes. What was it? Lust? Love? The look was rather indescribable. Or perhaps it wasn't. Perhaps she couldn't describe it because it meant affixing a label, a signifier, social meaning to something that terrified her.

There was a softness to his eyes as he gazed down at her, as though he wanted to enclose her with all the warmth and affection he stopped himself from showing her in real life. He held her for just a second too long, with a hold that was just a touch too yearning for a married man.

"Hey Liv, you're needed in hair and make-up in two!"

The moment was broken, Olivia jolted back to her senses. Her cheeky smile faded into sincerity as she slowly started to disentangle herself from him. "Truly, Fitz, you were magnificent in that scene, I almost forgot to prompt you."

Fitz felt her limbs stiffen when David entered the room, he watched her try to hide the alarm that spread across her face. He stifled a disappointed sigh because feeling disappointment at the loss of contact was inappropriate for a married man. Even if he was an unhappily married man. Silently he chastised himself for falling into the trap of becoming a cliché, and for being so tempted to drag her along with him into that trap.

" Thanks, Liv. I can't express just how much it means to me that you showed up to do this phone scene with me. I seem to do my best work when you're with me."

Olivia's heart suddenly sped up and halted in the same instance at the sincerity and love-no not love, couldn't be love- warmth directed towards her. Unable to confront such love-no, not love- adoration from him, she briskly hurried to the exit, attempting to mask her internal turmoil with a nonchalant response that papered over the gravity behind his words and look.

"I'm only returning the favour. You're lucky I love you otherwise I wouldn't be risking leg cramps for a scene that I'm not even in." She casually called back as she disappeared past the doorway.

She had meant it to be light-hearted, a light-hearted response devoid of any substantial feeling. So while she breathed a sigh of relief at escaping the torrent of emotions contained in that one man, he stood rooted to his spot. It wasn't as though Olivia wasn't generous with her "love yous". She let almost everyone on set know how much she loved and appreciated them. But…never with him, she had never thrown a "love you" his way. Until now.


End file.
